Paulding County Newspaper Reminiscences (1888, 1919)

“Grand Old Pioneer Women!”

Rev. H. A. Brown, tribute to the “trials and hardships” of early women settlers, in his address at Pioneer Day at Antwerp, 1888, as published in the Antwerp Argus newspaper:

“I would think myself ungrateful if I did not mention that one class of persons that have borne so important a part of the burden in the development of the resources of this country. I mean the great hearted, noble, self-sacrificing, never flagging women! Ready for every emergency; willing to bear her part of the burden. You pioneers who are here to-day well remember how many of the women of those days wielded the ax, picked the brush, helped to log, husked the corn, waded the swales, reaped and bound the wheat and helped to haul it in, as well as cared for the sick and entertained strangers, besides raising their own families of boys and girls, and did their house work and kept their cabins neat and tidy as pins. And when the time comes that succeeding generations are building monuments to the memory of the old pioneers who are dead and gone — as they record their names on those marble shafts, the topmost inscription, I fancy, that will be read there will be — ‘Grand Old Pioneer Women!’”

Do You Remember —

From the Paulding County Republican of May 8, 1919:

When there was a long row of county office buildings in Paulding between Perry and Jackson, facing on Main Street, with a frame court room at the extreme north end of the string?

When the first safety bicycle came to town? It took the owner several days to learn how to run it. Now days any real kid can learn to ride one of them in 15 minutes.

When the county seat was at New Rochester over on the Maumee River? It was one of the main stops on the stage line between Toledo and Fort Wayne and for a number of years enjoyed a good business.

When the county seat was at Charloe and the courthouse was a two story brick structure?

When four horses couldn’t pull an empty wagon through the mud on the south side of the square in Paulding?

When the first automobile came to town? It created nearly as much excitement as the first safety bicycle.

When the only road between Charloe and Paulding was under water three-fifths of the time and the only way to make the trip between the two places was by [crawling across] logs?

When the biggest showplace in this section of the state was a plank road that led back into the woods from Holcombville? It was the only way they could get timber to the mill.